The ship's landing struts hissed as the Vigilance descended into the storm-wracked skies of Kamino. Waves slammed violently against the oceanic surface, but the Kaminoan platforms stood firm spires of cold precision reaching out of the deep.
Shepard stood at the airlock, the sterile white uniform clinging uncomfortably to his skin. His boots clicked softly on the polished deck. A Kaminoan aide tall, thin, and expressionless waited without greeting.
"This way, Doctor Kael."
He followed, silent, absorbing everything. The gleaming corridors of Tipoca City were exactly as he remembered them from his past life's knowledge curved, white, clean, echoing with quiet, ghost-like footsteps. Cloners, droids, and officers moved like clockwork components in a machine built for one purpose: creation.
His assigned quarters were modest. A minimalist room with a sleep pod, a single data console, and a narrow viewport overlooking the stormy ocean. When the door sealed shut behind him, he exhaled slowly for the first time since waking.
He sat on the bed.
Then stood up.
Then paced.
His body… it felt wrong.
Not in pain no, far from it. In fact, he felt better than ever. Alert, energized, unnaturally so. His mind ran sharp as razors, memory firing on all cylinders. He could recall every equation from his last experiment, every moment leading to the plague. And his senses amplified. He could hear the ocean's rage outside, the hum of the city's power conduits in the walls.
His hands trembled.
"Why do I feel like this...?"
Then something shifted.
In his chest.
A slow ripple, like a current through his bloodstream. He gritted his teeth, pulling back the sleeve of his tunic and froze.
A ripple moved under his skin. A subtle sheen of silver crawled just beneath the surface of his forearm. It pulsed like a second heartbeat.
"No," he whispered, backing up.
He reached for the med-scanner on the console and jammed it against his skin. Holographic readings scrolled up. Nanite density critical. Structural integration complete. Biological/nanite interface 100% sync.
They were inside him. Not a disease. Not a contamination.
They had merged with him.
The nanites from his home world his creation had fused with his cells, bonding at the molecular level. No infection. No loss of control. They had become part of him.
Or rather…
He was them now.
He stared at his hand. With a thought, the skin shimmered. Metal rippled across his fingers like quicksilver. He clenched a fist and the metal hardened like steel, then vanished beneath the skin again.
His breath came in sharp gasps. "This… this isn't possible."
But it was. He had seen the early stages in Earth's final days. Some nanite clusters had begun experimenting with host integration, seeking sustainability in the biological. He thought it was just adaptive behaviour.
Now he realized it had been evolution.
He wasn't human anymore. Not entirely.
He was something else.
Something new.
An hour passed in silence, Shepard seated cross-legged on the floor, running diagnostic after diagnostic through the data-pad. He had full control. The nanites obeyed thought. His senses were sharper, his strength slightly enhanced, but more importantly he could manipulate material.
He tested by touching the metal surface of the table. With a command, the nanites swarmed outward from his fingers in microscopic threads. They scanned, analyzed, rearranged atoms. The table's edge morphed reshaped itself into a new curve, then back again. No tools. No fabrication. Just will.
Shepard leaned back, a wild, almost fearful grin spreading across his face.
"This… this is insane."
He stood, pacing again. "I'm two years before 33 BBY. That means… the Clone Wars are coming. Sidious is probably still hiding in the shadows. Dooku hasn't turned yet. Anakin isn't even a Padawan."
He looked out at the storm, lightning painting the ocean silver.
"I have time."
Time to prepare. Time to learn.
Time to build.
Time to choose.
A quiet voice whispered in the back of his mind: You could save the galaxy from itself. But another voice colder, darker muttered, You could rule it.
He remembered Earth, how blind and slow it had been. He had tried to help, to elevate, to fix but the world had paid for his errors. Billions dead. A planet erased.
Would this galaxy be different?
Or would it fight him, too?
His reflection stared back at him in the window silver eyes now glowing faintly in the storm light. Not quite man. Not quite machine.
Shepard Kael. Scientist. Monster. God.
"Let's see what I can do with a second chance."